Fashionable Asians wear fancy masks

Fashion-conscious Asians are sporting designer face masks and coordinating them with their outfits as they fend off a mysterious respiratory illness.
The latest necessary accessory to protect from severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), which started in Asia, is coming in all colors, styles and rip-off brand names.
Young trendsetters have decorated masks with cartoon characters like Winnie the Pooh, Scooby Doo and Hello Kitty. Other masks are sporting counterfeit Louis Vuitton, Burberry and Gucci patterns and symbols.
“It’s just another way to drape yourself with the identity of a brand,” said Scott Gold, chief operating officer of the Brand Consultancy, a strategic branding firm in the District. “It doesn’t surprise me. It’s systematic of the culture and role brands play there.”
Mr. Gold said the designer accessory shows “the significance and relevance of brands” in the Asian culture, even if it is a fake and not endorsed by the company.
SARS, which has a 4 percent death rate, is spread when an infected person coughs or sneezes droplets into the air and another person breathes them in, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The disease has infected more than 2,300 people and is blamed for nearly 100 deaths. The majority of the cases are in Asia, where researchers believe the disease originated.
As a preventive measure, the fearful Asian public is covering mouths and noses with surgical masks. Most of the fashionable masks, however, do not protect from SARS. In many cases, people are doubling up wearing plain-colored surgical masks underneath the fashionable ones.
Karen Teoh, who has lived and worked in Hong Kong for the past year and a half, is amused at the city’s embrace of the masks.
“The masks, decorated or not, are becoming a fashion statement,” she said in an e-mail. “In fashion-conscious Hong Kong, the unmasked few are often recipients of disdainful, disapproving and stinging looks. I wouldn’t be surprised if some people actually feel undressed without the mask.”
Lucian James, a brand consultant in San Francisco, says the SARS masks are an advertising opportunity for bold and daring companies willing to put their brand on the line.
“It’s fashionable and vogueish to find new places to advertise,” Mr. James said.
However, he doesn’t recommend that many companies use the medium since it might be considered tasteless and exploitive.
Mr. James suggests a company with a “cutting-edge brand that doesn’t have a lot to lose” might be able to get away with advertising on the masks.